Animanga in the News: 6/26 - 7/2

Here you will find a run down of this week's anime and manga news! If anything sent waves through the anime and manga world this week, you'll find it in this post! This week, we've got an upcoming Rurouni Kenshin movie, a change of hands at Shounen Jump, some Dragonball news, a singer on board the Naruto film seiyuu team and Lady Gaga imitating anime eyes with her make-up! Enjoy!




It has been announced that popular samurai manga "Rurouni Kenshin" will be turned into a live-action movie starring 22-year-old actor Satou Ken. The film will be directed by Ootomo Keiji (45), who had also directed last year's NHK taiga drama "Ryoumaden", and the movie will land in theatres next year. In fact, a world wide release is also being worked towards. Satou, himself a huge fan of the original manga, said, "It'd be the end of my career if I looked bad in the action scenes for this movie."

The original manga ran in "Weekly Shounen Jump" between 1994 and 1999, and is set after the Meiji Restoration. It tells the story of Himura Kenshin, a legendary hitokiri who has vowed never to kill. It was collected into 28 volumes, which sold over 50 million copies in total. Being such a popular series, there had been countless goes at turning it into a live-action movie or drama, but all faced the problem of how to tell such a rich story and where to find an actor who could play the role of Kenshin - small in build and unassuming at first glance but with a heart of sword stronger than anyone.

But now there's Satou. "Satou-san's looks and height make the perfect Kenshin, "explains producer Matsuhashi Shinzou. The mangaka of the original manga, Watsuki Nobuhiro (41) also said, "When the plans for this film were first put into motion, my wife and I talked about who would make a good Kenshin, and our number one choice was actually Satou Ken-san."

Satou acted in "Ryoumaden" as the famous bakumatsu samurai Okada Izou last year, his first notable work being the theatrical film for "Kamen Rider Denou", which was also his last lead role in a movie before Kenshin. It must be fate for Satou and Ootomo to meet once again after their collaboration in "Ryoumaden".

When the manga was being serialized, Satou was still in elementary school, but he speaks fondly of the manga as a huge fan of it, "Everyone in my generation knows this manga. Everyone would imitate the techniques with their friends." He began undergoing intensive training in sword fighting, in preparation for the crank in in July. Satou added, "I have to show that Kenshin is invincible. It'd be the end of my career if I looked bad in the action scenes for this movie. I want this role to be my definitive role."

original source





Former Weekly Shonen Jump Editor in Chief Sasaki Hisashi has announced in a series of tweets in English that he has stepped aside as Editor in Chief of Weekly Shonen Jump and has been promoted to the Deputy Director of Shonen Manga position within publisher Shueisha. Sasaki has announced that he will now oversee editorial direction for the Weekly SHONEN JUMP, V JUMP, JUMP SQ. and SAIKYO JUMP magazines with Saikyo Jump scheduled to launch in December.

I stepped aside from the editor in chief of #SHONENJUMP and now is the deputy director of Shonen Manga group of Shueisha.

@SASAKI_Hisashi
SHONENJUMP SASAKI

I oversee 4 magazines now. #Weekly SHONENJUMP, V JUMP, JUMP SQ. and SAIKYO JUMP which is scheduled to launch in December.

@SASAKI_Hisashi
SHONENJUMP SASAKI

Sasaki is one of the few Japanese members of the manga publishing industry that actively uses Twitter in English, which provides ample opportunity to observe insights within the inner workings of publisher Shueisha.





The latest V Jump has delivered what was promised, a new DragonBall manga based on the game DragonBall Heroes. The first volume is the episode of Bardock (father of Goku) and consists of 21 pages. The Bardock series will continue in upcoming issues as it has been confirmed he will become a Super Saiyan and did not die from Freeza’s attack. So this manga is really a “what if” situation, but very interesting nonetheless.

In addition, Ocean Studios (the other English dub of DragonBall) is popping up in numerous reports and rumors around the internet that they will be making their own version of DragonBall Kai. The first reports come from the possible voice actors for Ocean, one being the voice actor for Freeza (Lee Tockar). Read his tweets and other quotes below.

“Hi all. Gallery done-Invites pending. Very excited. I got the part of Frieza on Dragonball Kai. My inner nerd is all a-twitter on twitter.”

“Is it true you will be voicing Frieza in DragonBall Kai?”

“I am indeed. They have been very close lipped about the cast at this point for some reason, but as I have already signed the contracts and voiced several episodes and my union knows and I have not signed any non-disclosure agreements, I think it is safe to tell a few people. So yes I am very proud to say I am the new voice of Freeza in DBK.”



Ocean has yet to confirm any statements that they are working on DragonBall Kai, but at this point it is almost safe to say that they are and everyone will be seeing it shortly. So, would you like a lot of the old cast to return?

original source, 02





Not too long ago it was reported that Yusuke would be providing the ending theme for the newest Naruto film. Now he's scheduled to voice the character "Yusuke" in the Naruto Shippuden episode, "The Boy and the Sea", which will be airing August 4th.

After his father's death at the hand of a monster, "Yusuke" battles the monsters to try and avenge his father. The character will have a similar appearance to his voice actor. This is Yusuke's second anime role as he had a cameo in Sazae-san, which aired in 2010.

"Otakebi", Yusuke's single for the film, will be released on August 3rd while Naruto: Blood Prison will be in theatres July 30th.

original source





After her recent MTV Japan charity concert, Lady Gaga gave attended a press conference. She kept her eyes closed for the entire 10 minute Q&A. Painted over her eyelids were big fake eyes. Most Americans would easily identify it has "anime eye" make-up, but, as this clip from Japan’s NTV news shows us, the whole "anime" thing apparently isn’t so obvious to Japanese people.

The reporter narrating the video wonders about the connection between Gaga’s make-up and Japanese culture. To get an answer to that question, NTV consulted the editor of a celebrity gossip magazine. She explains that the make-up is inspired by Japanese animation. Lady Gaga is apparently showing her love for Japan by copying the large eyes of anime characters.

original source





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